FYI re FTB Advances

you may have heard in the budget there are changes to FTB advances starting July 1 - pending passing parliament

anyone that has a continuous advance in place for every July and January will still receive an advance in July but it won't be as large as previous years as it will be a transitional advance to take you from old rules to new rules.

the amount of the advance available is going to change for everyone - it will now be paid based on the number of children you have, your income estimate, and what you can reasonably afford to pay back - and you can have more than one advance on the go at a time, provided you haven't exceeded certain limits.

the calculation is not a simple one so i'm not going to go into it here - just wanted it out there as i know a LOT of people are used to receiving their $330ish dollar extra payment in July - and it simply won't be that much this July so i'm getting in early.

you can apply for further advance using phone or net online services, or you can phone the call centre. be aware if you need to call, FAO is about to enter it's peak period (not that we've had any down time with the natural disasters lol) so call wait times will be very high so if you can do it online, please give it a go (for your own sanity as much as anything - the hold music is terrible!)

is this about the Family Supplement?

nope, there is another thread about that

this is about getting part of your ftb part a paid in a lump sum and then repaying it from your installments each fortnight

Hi could you let me know if the continuous advance is separate from the one off up to $1000 advance. If I were to get the transitional advance in early July would I still be able to apply for the up to $1000 advance as well or do I need to wait until January

if you get the transitional advance, the total amount of your maximum advance will be reduced by that much
not everyone can get up to $1000 - it depends on how much ftba you get
there is also a test to make sure it's affordable for you to repay it.

Oh bugger! Thanks BG. I have a friend who was relying on that... will have to let her know!

Hi there thanks so much for you reply it's very helpful, if I get the transitional advance would I have to wait until Jan to apply for the maximum advance (I understand that I may not be entitled to the full $1000). I am trying to decide if I should just cancel my continuous advance and reapply for the maximum advance in July.

if you're going to cancel it you'd probably need to do it today

you're able to have numerous advances at once, provided you are able to advance the minimum (about 155) and the amount you're advanced in the past 6 months doesn't exceed your maximum. the calculations are messy and not something i can really explain well here - but as an example, if your transitional advance is 330, and your maximum entitlement is 500 you can get the other 170 at any time,and just pay both advances off together

Thank you! That is exactly what I wanted to know. There doesn't seem to be much benefit to canceling the continuous payment then if I am able to apply for the maximum advance at any time. I was just worried that I would have to wait until Jan to apply for it, but thank you for clearing that up.

you will only get one transitional advance - if you wish to have it set for jan/july each year again you'll need to apply again in January next year as they are all lbeing cancelled after this one transitional one

Yes I understand that about the transitional advance, what I was confused about was the new maximum payment and if getting the transitional advance this July would make me ineligible to apply for the new payment until I had paid off the transitional advance on the 31st Dec this year. I didn't realise that you could have both the transitional advance and the new maximum advance at the same time. Thanks so much.

I read today that if you want to cancel the transitional & apply for the full amount you have til July 4?

Hi again

I just applied for the $1000 advance payment and was approved. It had two separate options to choose from-continuous payment and the one off advance. The test was to ask how much money you had left over per fortnight after expenses.

Thank you so much for all of your help, I really appreciate it.

the payments for transitional advances will all be run after close of business on Monday rather than tonight as there is a major system upgrade needed over the weekend to accommodate it

I just did my usual thing and apply for my advance today like i usually do, i dont have my payments continuing, i just apply when needed, any way, saw thats its all changed and i can get the higher amount, but choose not to.

I only applied for enough to cover rent next week cause hubby is casual and took 3 days off work this week because we had the baby, so the timing was perfect and no need to stress about rent, anyway, hubby says i should have taken the maxium.

So from what i have just read above, am i right in assuming that i can apply for the remainder at any time? or have i read that wrong? It said i qualified for the maximum, but i only applied for half.

as long as the balance you can still advance exceeds the minimum allowable amount (around 160-161) then yes, you can get it any time

as consultants, we are concerned about people taking out massive advances and putting themselves under financial strain to pay them back - one decent advance can leave them paying back 77 a fortnight! so we're trying to encourage people to do exactly what you've done Anila

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as long as the balance you can still advance exceeds the minimum allowable amount (around 160-161) then yes, you can get it any time

as consultants, we are concerned about people taking out massive advances and putting themselves under financial strain to pay them back - one decent advance can leave them paying back 77 a fortnight! so we're trying to encourage people to do exactly what you've done Anila

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Yes, its more than the minimum that i have remaining, saving that for an emergency use now that i know i can apply any time for it!

Thanks hun.